Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-12-24
LONDON DOCK LABoRERs.
Strong Men Who Work Very Hard for Worry
Little Pay.

A<ANhO eye
The dock laborers of East London
are rather looked down on by laborers
in other work. They are a rough
class of men, upon whom the econo-
mist frowns and who give the philan-
thropist plenty of employment for his
true as we'll us money
They toll, when they can get work.
from six until six. and earn on an av-
erage about five dollars week if they
understand their business and are
strong and capable. The regular
hands are paid ten cents an hour, av-
eraging about seventy cents n day
throughout the year.
1t seems strange that London dock
laborers have no trades unions or So
ciety for aiding each other The
trouble is they are antagonistic and
careless and have less sympathy for
one another than is to be found in any
other walk of life.
The foreman is the great mogul OF
the docks, before whom all bow, and
as soon rs his work is through he
hastens away from his unsavory sur
roundings to neat cottage in the
suburbs, or secluded but respectable
back street The question never agi-
tates him. or those beneath him, as
they go about their individual duties:
Gam my brothers Keeper"
But the universal dislocation of the
social life of Z Lst London manifests
itself in the docks. not only by the abb
sence of all ties between employer,
foreman and men, but in the complete
severance of the different grades of
labor and among the m re respectable
Of the working class, in the isolation
of he individual family. The per
manent" man of the docks ranks in
the 81 cial scale below the skilled me-
chanic or artisan. With wage usual
ly from twenty to twenty-five shillings
q week and an average family, he ex-
isis above the line of poverty though
in times of domestic trouble he fire.
quently sinks below it. He is perforce
respectable and his lite must needs
be monotonous. His work requires lit
tie skill or intelligence --the one abb
: solute condition is regular and con-
slant attendance all the year through.
H has even vested interest in regu-
laritv-the dock company acting as a
benefit society in sickness and death
an interest which he forfeits if he is
> discharged for neglect of work. By
] the irregular hands the permanent
e man is looked unon as an inferi or
# foreman and dislked as such, or de-
:. spised as a Dir ldge. H., in his turn,
. resents the popular characterization
I of the dock laborer rs the scum of
= the earth. "
= The only communication for EN-.
. ployment on the docks is physical
VI strength. If sincwy man appeals
for work who has just come out of jai
;, he will be taken on Just as quickly a!
~ the experienced dock laboreE Pre-
s. vious good character goes for nothing
ID with the con tractor, who would rathc>
y have pugiliSt than saint.
lie The fact ,lat man without q char
n &C ter can live by dock labor has de
cided many y one 10 choose the evi
h course. B 1t tho "chancc for life" h
Il gets on the docks is suffi cient TO damn
= him for other work.
= The casual workers or ticket mel
v, are recruited from the failures in othe
I. branches of trade. When the ticket
are given out there is generally fgh
:. for their possession as if life depcnde,
a on it. Jack having secured tickle
k. by a savage fight sells it to needle
0. Tom for two pence, and goes off wit
the coppers to drink or to gamble
- Or if the rush of business forces tn
or employers to "clear the gates" man
es' of those who on slack molnin
as. would be most desperate in their d.
mand for work will 'book off" aftC
;n they have earned suffi cient for pir
ew Of beer and pipe of tobacco and
so nights lodging.
q As the day draws on the more II
spectacle element will disappea
!. while its place will be taken by Il
Z, professional ''cadger" and doc
gsss lounger. A gentleman who has live
an and worked in this district twent
* three years estimates the number
,sE dock and waterside loungers at "
md thousand. These men would not VOL
at any price. They gain their live
DC hood by petty theft, by cadging Il
~ earnings of their working friend
=, I'm through gambling or drink, and
'he charitable assistance.
nat The very system of dock labor b
IA created this degraded class. 1t is Il
u.s. result Of the difficulty Of obtainir
regular work and the ease of livir
IL without it. Beatrice Potter in Mn